Yale Football Blog

It was a heartbreaking weekend for the Men’s Lacrosse squad as they lost the NCAA National Championship on Memorial Day to Virginia in a 13-9 contest. Just two days before the title matchup, the Bulldogs shocked the top-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions 21-17, but simply never seemed to show the same level of energy versus Virginia. Congratulations to Coach Shay on another memorable season!

Yale extended the contract of Men’s Basketball Head Coach James Jones through 2026. The Bulldogs have won more men’s basketball games in the past five years than any other Ivy League team and Jones’ 310 career victories ties him for second place in all-time Ivy League victories.

The Yale Football Association Golf Outing will be held on August 5th at the Course at Yale. The event will be celebrating our former Head Coach and 2-time Ivy League Champion, Jack Siedlecki.

Hero Sports named JP Shohfi the top FCS player who wears the “88” jersey. With the return of a healthy Rawlings, this will be the first of many awards for Shohfi. Will Shohfi or Klubnik lead Yale in receiving yards in 2019?

Trib Total Media posted a podcast with Gus Frerotte interviewing Foye Oluokun. Check out the episodes here: https://triblive.com/sports/podcast-gus-frerotte-huddles-up-with-falcons-lb-foye-oluokun/

The Hartford Courant posted a fascinating piece on Jacob Van de Grift’s documentary of Carm Cozza. Check out the article here: https://www.courant.com/sports/college/hc-sp-college-yale-carm-cozza-documentary-20190509-20190508-k27omkswcbguvjpebmktpmtpqe-story.html

No Yalies were selected in the 2019 NFL Draft and the Ivy League as a whole was shutout, although several top players such as Princeton’s Jesper Horsted have signed as undrafted free agents. Foye Oluokun continues to impress the league. The Atlanta Falcon’s official website reviewed three rookies from 2018 and Oluokun was referenced as the most impactful of the group as an “intelligent and focused” athlete. The full article can be accessed here: https://www.atlantafalcons.com/news/how-the-falcons-three-rookie-defenders-fared-in-2018

Men’s Lacrosse will faceoff against Georgetown this Saturday at 2:30 PM ET on ESPNU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs defeated Cornell 15-10 in the first round of the Ivy League tournament before dropping a close contest to Penn on Sunday.

Spring Ball officially concluded on Saturday with the “One New Haven” event at Bowen Field. The offense and defense competed for nine quarters on a rain-soaked afternoon with the offense edging the defense 5-4. The defense surprisingly won the first quarter as the offense struggled to get into a rhythm, but the offense eventually found its groove to best the defense on the day. The defense at all three levels appears to be much further ahead in their development than just a season ago with key battles pushing players to improve. The linebackers and defensive backs are likely still the weakest positional groups overall, but they seem to be improving at a faster rate than other more established groups.

The next time the Bulldogs will be suiting up as a team will be mid-August for the start of fall camp. Summer attendance for players sounds like it will be very high this summer as the Elis continuously seek to get bigger, faster and stronger for the upcoming campaign.

Men’s Lacrosse defeated Albany this weekend 10-5, while Men’s Baseball swept Penn in a three game series 6-5, 9-7, and 8-0.

Footage posted on Yale Football’s Twitter page showed Tyler Jost at Left Tackle, Dieter Eiselen at Left Guard, Sterling Strother at Center, Steven Cepalia at Right Guard and Cameron Warfield at Right Tackle. Is this a preview of the starting lineup or is Reno simply tinkering with the lineup to find the best possible combination?

Practices this week will be held on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The Saturday practice will take place at Bowen Field as part of the “Our New Haven” event. Yale coaches will run a youth clinic beginning at 12:30 PM on Saturday and the players will take the field at 2 PM for the last practice of Spring Ball.

Men’s Lacrosse beat Brown on Saturday 17-12. Men’s Baseball continues the downward spiral dropping 4 straight games since Wednesday.

The Bulldogs now have six practices under their belts with another six upcoming. Practices this week will be held on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Top performers from Spring Ball that we keep hearing about:

Rawlings

Lamar

Herring

Ifesinachukwu

McElwain

Men’s Baseball dropped to 11-16 after this weekend going 1-2 in a three game series versus Harvard.

Men’s Lacrosse beat Dartmouth 20-8 on Saturday and is currently ranked #5 in the country.

We are off and running with spring practices with three down and three more to go this week (the 2nd, 4th and 6th). Dogs of the Day so far have been Charles Callender, Rodney Thomas and Patrick Conte. It sounds like the defense is playing with a chip on its shoulder this offseason!

Yale Men’s Lacrosse fell to Penn 13-12 in OT on Saturday. All remaining ECAC teams in the NCAA Hockey Tournament were eliminated.

Here are the top opposing Ivy football squads heading into 2019:

Dartmouth-The top defenders from the top defense are returning. With any semblance of an offensive line, they will be a force to be reckoned with come mid-season.

Harvard-Harvard has the cupboard full of talent and continues to win recruiting wars. It’s only a matter of time before the sleeping giant awakens.

Princeton-Losing two of the best offensive and defensive players in the league will hurt Princeton more than they realize, yet they have the top young talent in the league waiting in the wings as well as proven talent at the offensive line and running back spots.

Columbia-Bagnoli has changed the culture and the losing attitude at Columbia, but the team does not have enough pieces in place to make a run for the title just yet.

Penn-With the rise of Columbia, Penn seems to have lost some of its swagger. Priore is not winning recruiting battles like he used to and the offensive production has been lackluster.

Cornell-Cornell has the ability to surprise any Ivy foe (such as Harvard) on any given Saturday. The loss of Dalton Banks coupled with inferior coaching will lead the Big Red to a losing record in the Ivy League.

Brown-Brown is in a rebuilding phase after the departure of Phil Estes, but they would enjoy nothing more than knocking off the Elis in Week 8.

Mathieu Araujo was named Yale’s Defensive Backs Coach after stints at Boston College and Springfield College (Graduate Assistant). Vashel will coach the outside linebackers and McGowan will assist with the defensive backs as well. Welcome aboard Coach Araujo and best of luck in transforming this secondary!

Spencer Matthaei and Josh Keeler are the top returners at defensive tackle. Both have flashed dominance in spurts, but need to be much more consistent at the point of attack this season. Sebastian Bruno, Michael Chime, Tate Goodyear and Adam Raine all have a chance to see extending playing time with a solid performance in Spring Ball.

Charles Callender and Devin Moore both return as starters from a year ago. Callender wasn’t the same player this past season as he battled through an injury, while Moore struggled to contain the outside edge at times. Christian Sampleton, Sean Kissel, Oso Ifesinachukwu and Reid Nickerson all played major roles last season and have the potential to replace Callender or Moore. Ethan Campbell and Brett Gerber could enter the defensive line rotation as well. Will Kyle Mullen ever return to reclaim his starting position?

The linebacking corps is full of raw talent that has yet to be fully developed. Micah Awodiran, Ryan Burke, Blake Hill, Noah Pope, John Dean, and Jordan Carey all started at some point last season. There never seemed to be a consistent unit on the field that could mesh well together, so developing cohesiveness among the top linebackers is crucial this Spring. These six players must take drastic leaps from 2018 to solidify the defense. Abelite, Frommer, Large, MacPhee, Ryan and Westafer will have the opportunity to compete for playing time and likely will be key players on the special teams units.

The secondary has an abundance of depth and experience returning, but these players need to be properly coached and put in a position to succeed. Our defensive backs must look for the ball and tackle well to give us a chance in 2019. Rodney Thomas will likely return as the starting free safety. Tosan Agbeyegbe and Miles Oldacre could be in competition for the strong safety spot, although Oldacre seemed to play more as an outside linebacker last season opposed to a true safety. Isaiah Dunham really showed a willingness to hit opponents in his limited playing time, something that was lacking in the secondary most of the season. Abraham, Alburg, Dixon, Ellis, Granberry, Henson and Hickey saw a lot of snaps last season and will battle it out for the starting corner positions. Dixon and Hickey played safety during parts of last season and could contend for the strong safety position with Agbeyegbe and Oldacre.

We are just one day away from the start of offseason practices. The Bulldogs will be practicing on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with the exception of the week of April 9th as they will be practicing Tuesday, Thursday and Friday on that week. The final Saturday is designated as a community outreach day.

With the graduation of kicker/punter Alex Galland and long snapper Hunter Simino, the Bulldogs will have to groom new specialists this offseason. Freshman Ajay Culhane and Junior Sam Tuckerman will battle it out this spring to see who can solidify these positions. Incoming freshman Jack Bosman could enter the mix when fall practices begin as well. Nick Tibbetts was a very highly ranked long snapper out of high school and should fill in nicely for the departing Simino.

The preview of our defense will be posted tomorrow.

Yale Men’s Basketball fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to LSU 74-79.

Yale Men’s Lacrosse defeated Princeton 15-10 over the weekend and remains a top team in the country.

Yale’s Men’s Basketball team defeated Princeton and Harvard over the weekend to earn a 14th seed in the NCAA Tournament. Yale will face the Tigers of Louisiana State University on Thursday at 12:40 EST on TruTV.

In just over two weeks, the 2019 Yale Bulldogs football team will begin Spring Ball on a quest to bounce back from the middling 5-5 record in 2018.

The goods news is that every starter returns on our high-powered offense. Hinish, Eiselen, Strother, Cepalia and Warfield will anchor the offensive line. Tribble could reclaim his spot on the first team offense with an impressive performance.

Tight ends JJ Howland and D. Major Roman will form the best tight end rotation in the Ivy League. They are both big targets that can leave linebackers and safeties in the dust with their route running abilities.

Kurt Rawlings returns from his leg injury, while Griffin O’Connor will stand ready for the call. While the Princeton fanbase believes the Tigers have the most reserve talent at the quarterback position, Yale fans know better. O’Connor holds the single game passing yards record and was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year despite starting only three games.

The running back position is stacked and the depth continues to grow thanks to our successful recruiting efforts. Lamar, Dudek, and Alston could start anywhere in the league. Charles gives us a lightning fast option as a third-down back.

JP Shohfi and Reed Klubnik create one of the most formidable wide receiver duos in Yale history. Sprinkle in Rouse, Sandifer, White, Carrington, and Aaron and the opposition will have a difficult battle to stay balanced against the passing and running games.

To improve offensively, the Bulldogs will have to focus on strength, consistency and smart schemes. In each game that we lost last season, the offensive line was pushed around and did not show the same tenacity that we witnessed in 2017. Consistency comes down to sustaining drives, avoiding penalties, converting on opportunities and staying healthy. Developing the best schemes week to week is always a challenge for coaches, but we need to master plays that can give our playmakers the best opportunity to score and continue to tweak the scheme throughout the season to keep defenders guessing.